▶ Tel Kinrot as viewed from Mount beatitudes (photographed by Merja Alanne; © Kinneret Regional Project).
The Site
The ruins of the ancient towns are lying on a natural ridge that slopes down to all its sides rather steeply, except for its northern face, which gradually rolls out to the gentle outskirts of the hills of the Lower Galilee. With their position on this small pass, the ancient towns controlled the Via Maris - the major trade route connecting Egypt and Syria since the Early Bronze Age. In addition to this strategically important position, favorable natural resources, such as perennial springs and the fertile plain of Ginnosar, made this spot a highly attractive place for ancient settlers. The mound itself covers approx. 10 ha (25 acres). Today, about half of the area (exactly 5.55 ha/13.71 acres) is accessible for scientific research. The Israeli water company Mekorot occupies the other, southwestern part of the site.Identification
Tel Kinrot/Tell el-'Oreimeh was identified with the Biblical town of Kinneret by G. Dalman in 1921 and W. F. Albright in 1923. The identification was based on the fact that Tel Kinrot/Tell el-'Oreimeh is the only large and fortified Tell with Iron and Bronze Age remains on the western shore of Lake Kinneret. Kinneret (or Kinrot/Kinnerot) appears several times in the Bible, but it is referred to as a town only once, namely in the list of fortified cities in Josh. 19:35. In the other passages, Kinneret is referred to as a lake ([jam] Kinneret Num. 34:11; Deut. 3:17, Josh. 11:2, 12:3, 13:27) or as an area (kol Kinnerot 1Kgs. 15:20). Kinneret is also mentioned in Egyptian sources: in the list of conquered towns by Thutmosis III (1490-1436 BCE) and in Papyrus Petersburg 1116A equally dated to the 18th dynasty.
▶ The mound of Tel Kinrot from the air (photographed around 1920; © Bayerisches Staatsarchiv).
History of Excavations
P. Karge first explored Kinneret in 1911 concentrating mainly on the prehistoric remains. The first excavations were undertaken under the direction of R. Köppel in 1932 and 1939. Modern excavations were started in the 1980´s. Shan M. M. Winn (University of Southern Mississippi) and Jak Yakar (University of Tel Aviv) excavated Early Bronze Age remains near the sea shore. Volkmar Fritz (University of Mainz/Giessen, Germany) directed the first full-scale excavations in 1982-1985 on the hill's peak and from 1995-1999 and again in 2001 on the southeastern slope of the mound. Since 2002 the "Kinneret Regional Project" – a Dutch-Finish-German-Swiss joint expedition – under the direction of Stefan Münger, Juha Pakkala and Jürgen Zangenberg is exploring the wider region of Tel Kinrot.Settlement History
In antiquity, the area of habitation extended over the entire mound. However, whereas the Middle Iron Age settlement layers (Strata I-III) were discovered mainly on the acropolis, the material remains found on the southeastern slope date to the Bronze and Early Iron Ages (Strata IV-X). Furthermore, some scattered remains later than Stratum IV were exposed on the slope as well.
▶ Comparative stratigraphy of Tel Kinrot during the Iron Age I (compiled by Stefan Münger; © Kinneret Regional Project).
